Late Night
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Steph and Paul steal an hour or two in his hotel room to discuss their plans now that Vince has forbade them from seeing one another. Needless to say, they have very little plans to heed his warning. - One-shot.


Paul was just stepping out of the shower when she showed up. He knew it was her too, he could just tell, from the way she knocked to the way he felt as if his senses were heightened, just a bit.

Plus, who else would knock on his hotel room door at two in the morning? The night after a taping, no less?

He thought about wiggling into some jeans, but figured that would be too much work and feared she might lose her confidence before he got the door opened. Which his why he answered the knock in only a towel.

And because he was really hoping to give her ideas (assuming she didn't have them already).

"Oh, come on, Paul. Seriously?"

"I was in the shower," he defended as he only opened the door wider, once he was sure it was Stephanie. "And come in. Shit. I'm sure your father's got my room scoped."

"Scoped?" she repeated as he pulled her in before shutting the door behind her. "Like with what? A sniper? He's going to take you out now?"

"I don't know what he's going to do to me, but I've been trying real hard to keep it from happening." His hand was still holding tightly to her arm, keeping her in place, and he didn't slacken his grip in the slightest as he stared down at her. "You're gonna get me fired, you know that, princess?"

She was staring up at him with those bright eyes that made him swallow and look off, always. That night was no different. Staring across the room at the television, which he'd put on before getting into the shower, he found that the programming had been replaced with infomercials. Paul let her go so that he could walk over to it and turn it off.

There. Then it was just him, her, heavy silence, and a towel wrapped far too loosely around his waist (though he felt it was a tad too tight).

"I'm guessin'," he said as he went over to where he'd tossed his bag, at the foot of one of the two beds in the room, "that you didn't come over here for no reason."

"Of course not."

"Then..."

"I just… I really wanted to see you," Steph told him simply as she seemed to get more comfortable around him and came closer. "After the show. But Dad made me sit through some editing stuff, like he's been doing. I think just to keep me away from you. And you had already left when I was finished-"

"I waited as long as I could. If I just flat out got caught by him waiting for you, he'd-"

"I know."

"He's being a real ass about this whole thing." And then Paul did it. After snagging a pair of boxers out of his bag, he literally dropped his towel. Steph played it off well though, keeping her gaze very forcefully on his eyes. Paul pretended as if this was the most natural thing in the world (and it kinda was, in a certain sense) before saying, "I'm getting fucking tired of it."

Steph tried hard not to blush as she stared at him as it was much different, being nude around one another when they weren't in the heat of the moment. It added such a realness to their relationship.

"He'll come around."

"Yeah, sure." Then Paul snorted before taking a step back from her and start to slip on his boxers. Looking away from the woman then, he said, "So did you come just to see me? Or to tell me something? Or-"

"Just to be around you." She let herself blush that time, looking off as well. "We did so much together on the show, but never really got a chance to..."

"To what? Talk?" When his underwear was on, he came closer to her again. "Or something more?"

"Paul-"

"I mean, I do need you, I guess." He rolled a shoulder then, reaching up to rub at it. "My muscles are cramping he hell up. Can you-"

That made Steph deflate, just a bit, but still she said, "Of course. I-"

"I mean, we can still fuck after, since I know that's what you really wanted, but-"

"Paul-"

"Just help me with my shoulders, huh?" He was grinning at her then, truly, but Steph still regarded him with a suspicious stare that he found unbelievably attractive and hypocritical, considering there was no other reason to show up at a man's door at two in the morning other than to fuck.

Honestly, there just wasn't.

Still, he went to sit on the end of one of the twin beds in the room and Steph got behind him, on her knees, so that she could mess with his shoulders. Paul only hung his head and allowed this to go on in silence for a bit.

Eventually, he whispered, "You gotta dig, baby. Real rough. I need to get my muscles loose."

"Did you not stretch tonight?" she asked him as she pressed down rather hard with her thumbs. "After your match?"

"I did. I just… I dunno. I'm tight tonight, is all."

"What were you going to do if I didn't show up at your door?"

"Obviously go pick up a prostitute and have her do it for me."

He could practically feel the eye roll. "Obviously."

"I wouldn't sleep with her though."

"Uh-huh."

"Just get her to give me a late night massage. Then pay her a big tip because, you know, she's working hard for her living."

"So hard."

"Or I coud just wait until the morning and find a masseuse."

"Or that," Steph agreed rather dryly.

"But then I couldn't get the blow job from the prostitute I wasn't going to tell you ab- It's a joke! That hurts!"

"I thought you wanted it rough?" Steph gripped his shoulders tighter, if it were possible. He tried to roll them into her touch, but she had a vice grip on them then. "Babe?"

"Shit. Mark prostitutes off the topics I can discuss with you."

"Mr. Won't Let Alcohol Grace His Precious Temple of a Body," Stephanie mocked as she let go of his shoulders completely, Paul turning a bit to glare at her, "would sleep with someone like that?"

"No," he grumbled with a frown. "But I would jokingly say that to rile you up."

Steph shrugged a bit, letting her hands fall as she stared at him. "You won then."

A tense moment passed then, in the hotel room, where Paul only sat there, glaring at her, as she gave him this incredulous look of complete and utter righteousness because, you know, it was okay to squeeze the hell outta someone's sore shoulders if they were teasing you.

"Damn, you look too good tonight, Steph." Paul didn't turn back around to let her get at his shoulders again though. "Too good to stay mad at."

She made a face at his words before saying, "I'm literally wearing the ugliest top of all time-"

"I like it."

"And a pair of jeans."

"Hot jeans."

"You're so full of it."

"I think I'm just attracted to you."

"Is that it?"

He nodded before reaching over to tug gently at her ponytail. "Take it down." When she only stared, he grinned before adding, "Please?"

As she did so, Steph said, "If you're already so attracted to me-"

"The highest level one could ever wish to achieve."

"-then why do I have to take my hair down?"

"'cause I want somethin' to pull at when you're going down on me. Obviously."

"Well, I didn't agree to that." Steph was playing hard to get. Again, odd, for a woman that came crawling to him at two in the morning. "So-"

"Then I want something to run my fingers through when I'm making out with you." He raised an eyebrow. "Can I at least get that? For my troubles?"

"What troubles?"

"The trouble of sleeping with the boss' daughter and being threatened constantly with being fired. Oh, and you interrupting my shower."

"Why did you even take another shower?" she asked as, in unison, she moved up the bed at the same time he shifted further on it. "Again?"

"The shower after the show's just a getting the sweat off me on." He crawled on his knees up the bed, finding himself over her in no time. "The shower back here was washing all the grime and grit away. Aren't you glad I did that?"

Her eyes weren't so accusatory then as, with him over her, they turned round, blue meeting his dark, as she whispered, "I kinda like your grit and grime."

Paul let out that deep moan then, the one that was definitely a bit extra, but always managed to make her giggle.

"You're too much for me, woman." He bowed his head to rest it against hers. "Such a match. What doesn't Vince get about that?"

"Mmmm." Reaching up with both hands, she cupped his cheeks with a grin. Stroking her thumbs gently across his flesh, she asked, "Can we not talk about him? Please? Just for a bit?"

"How about forever?"

"Even better."

And they didn't. Not for a long while. It wasn't until she found herself with one of his t-shirts pulled over her while slumping back against the headboard of the bed that they did. And he laid further down on it, feet hanging off the edge so that he could lay with his head rested on Steph's lower stomach, his shoulders in the perfect position for her to gently reach down and toy with.

"I think," he told her softly at one point as they laid there, one of them having gotten the light at some point, therefore leaving them in darkness, "that I'm about done with WWF."

"What?" Stephanie hadn't been focusing on him, rather more on trying hard not to drift off, but felt wide awake at those words. "Paul-"

"I'm done, baby." He tilted his head back a bit to stare up at her. "I'm done with him and his shit about you. If he doesn't want me, fine."

"You can't-"

"I'm going to ask him to let me out of my contract and then I'm going to go market myself to ECW."

"Dad says that ECW's about to go belly up."

"Then WCW."

"He wants to buy that out. He thinks it's about to go down too."

"Then the fucking lower circuits, Steph. Fuck, I don't care. I just want far away from him." His arms were crossed over his chest, just from the thought of Vince, but fell a bit when he glanced up at her face. "I just want to do my job and get to be with you. If I have to do my job somewhere else-"

"You can't."

"Stephanie-"

"He won't let you out of that contract. Especially if we're still going to be seeing one another regardless. So get that out of your head." Her hands were still against his shoulders then. "And don't you know the only attractive thing about you is screwing with my father?"

That didn't get the laugh she wanted. Only him saying, "I'm not going to let him act this way towards me. Towards us. We can be together if we want. You're grown. What? He thinks that he can control your entire life? My entire life? Fuck him. Man can't even keep it in his own damn pants around the younger women and thinks that he can get onto me about-"

"Hey!" Steph shoved him, practically out of her lap. Paul shut his eyes in annoyance at this, but only listened as she said, "That's still my father."

"Yeah, well, your father's an asshole."

"Paul-"

"This is why it would be better if I left, Stephanie," he said as he laid there, defiant. "Then it won't be a chose between the two of us thing. It-"

"If you leave, it will always be that. He'll always hate you."

"He'll always hate me for being with you anyways!"

Shaking her head a bit in the darkness, Stephanie sat up some so that he could stare down at him. "Not if you stay. And you guys work this out."

"Working it out is me not getting to be with you." His eyes opened then, staring right back up into hers. "And I'm not going to do that. That's not an option. I like being with you, Steph. I like the way I feel when I'm with you, the way that you listen to me, you always listen to me, and not the way that everyone else does. You sit there and legitimately enjoy talking with me. About anything. And I like it when we're just sitting around, watching TV or something in a hotel room and I can just be with you, be alone with you, and not have to worry about anything. Because I like you, Steph"

"I like you too," she whispered. "I-"

"No, Steph, you don't get it." He swallowed a bit before saying, "I can't be without you. Hanging out every single day, doing shows together, getting to even be around you means so much to me. And I don't care if no one else gets it. I get it. It's not about what you can bring me or what being with you can bring me. It's about the way that you like watching me workout, you think it's cute when I get angry, and that even when we're upset with one another, even when we're fighting, I know things will be okay. That we'll be okay. Because this just feels real. It hasn't been that long, but it feels so real to me. I'm not stupid. I know that shit doesn't last forever. But I feel like this can last for long time."

It was her turn to swallow, letting out a soft noise of agreement before whispering, "I do too."

"Good." Paul shut his eyes again. "'cause I meant that, Steph. All of that. And I don't know if I've ever said any of that before-"

"You haven't." Her hands went back to needling at his shoulders. "And I really enjoyed when you did."

"You liked that?" When she nodded, he said, "You wanna hear some other things then?"

One of her hands left his shoulder so that she could gently stroke some of his long hair, which splayed out against her stomach. "I'd like that a lot."

Snuggling back against her, he lost his seriousness a bit as he grinned and said, "Well, I like your body a lot. All tight and taut and just all around amazing."

Steph rolled her eyes though he didn't see, as his were shut once more. "Uh-huh."

"And sex with you is just...shit, Steph. Just shit."

She thumped his forehead. "Sex with me is shit?"

"No," he grumbled. "I mean shit, Steph, it's amazing!" Then he peeked an eye open. "I more than like it."

"I really didn't mean that I wanted to talk about _this_ when I said I enjoyed hearing you tell me things you like about us being together."

"Mmmm." Paul ran a hand down his bare chest before saying, "I like the way you take care of me."

"What do you mean?"

"The way you do this, with my shoulders," he explained. "Or buy me ice when I need it. Don't mind going out and getting me protein shakes if I'm too busy to stock up. You're always picking up around my apartment for me and damn, Steph, if I don't like the way that we can just drive down to shows these days. Now that your father knows. That we can just get in my car and drive together for a few hours. Just be together, in the car. And I definitely like the way that you pretend to like the same music as me-"

"I do."

"Steph-"

"I do."

"I've heard you before, singing along to those stupid pop songs on the radio." He opened his eyes again just to stare at her. "You know every word of every song that I absolutely loathe."

"I can like both."

"No, you can't."

"I'm just more cultured than you."

"I'll give you that," he agreed then with a slight chuckle. "You definitely are that. And I like that too." Humming, he added, "And as much as I hate your dad and everything about WWF recently-"

"Paul-"

"I like to watch you when you're watching matches, in the gorilla room. Or when you're in those stupid creative meetings and you're all into it."

"Considering you think being into it is showing up late, smacking on gum, and acting like a complete ass-"

"It's a persona."

"Sure."

"I just love how much love you have for the sport." He let out a slow breath. "I love it."

Steph was silent for a moment or two whispering, "Then don't leave it."

"You don't get it," he told her with a slight growl. "I hate-"

"Do you really like being around me? Because we'll never have time for one another, if you go to another company."

"I'd make time. I-"

"Then make yourself get along with my father."

'Stephanie-"

"Haven't you enjoyed being married to me?"

He relaxed a bit then and, after a moment or two, got out a slight laugh. "Yeah. I guess I have."

Relaxing as well, she said, "Then stay here. With WWF. There's nowhere else that you can go that you'll be as big as you are here. Hell, Paul, he hates you right now and you're still the biggest storyline out there. If there's anything my father's good at, it's making money. And you make him money. He won't fire you. And you won't quit." She leaned completely over then, to ghost her lips over his upside down, before straightening and saying, "I won't let you."

Eventually, Paul got uncomfortable with how they were laying and asked Steph to work his thighs a bit. Which is exactly how he phrased it. She was glad it was too dark for him to see her blush.

"Here." He rolled onto his stomach and she shifted lower on the bed. "The left one's killin' me. Mmmm."

Stephanie sat on her knees, rubbing at his left thigh, enjoying the feel of the muscle beneath her fingertips. After a minute though, she said, "I can't stay, Paul."

"Why not?"

"I just can't."

"It's the middle of the night."

"That's exactly why I can't."

"Stephanie-"

"He's probably going to call my room, like, bright and early tomorrow under the ruse of wanting me to do something, but it's totally going to be to check to see where I am."

"Say you slept through it."

"Paul-"

"Stay with me."

"I want to."

"Then do it."

"But-"

"What am I then? Huh?" His head was buried in a pillow, but she heard him loud and clear. "A booty call?"

That got a rather loud huff from her and caused him to hide his smile against said pillow. He loved annoying her.

"I think," she grumbled as she only continued to massage his thigh for him, "that you would have to be the one to come to me for that."

"Babe, I'm pretty sure I did come to you."

"You're so nasty." She giggled as she added, "Freak."

"Mmmm. Says the woman that didn't even blink at the sight of me walking around naked in the hotel room-"

"You're the one that literally dropped your towel-"

"It was a test."

Steph paused at that before whispering, "Oh?"

Nodding into the pillow, he said, "You failed."

"How?"

"You didn't immediately get down on your knees and-"

"Goodnight, Paul."

His thigh got a slight slap before she was moving to climb out of the bed and leave him behind. It was with a laugh that he rolled onto his back to watch her slip out of his shirt and back into the clothes that she'd come in. It was only once she was truly dressed that he got to his feet.

They hugged, quite tightly and for a good while, him mumbling in her ear about how he really wanted her to stay and her just continuing to shake her head. When he released her finally, he got a kiss to the cheek.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said simply as he walked her the short distance to the door. Then, before opening it, he said, "You know I'd walk you back to your room, but-"

"I got here on my own, didn't I?"

He nodded. "Next time you beep me, huh? And I'll come to you."

"You're so old."

"What? That's a thing."

Her hand had been resting on his arm the entire time and, with one last squeeze of his bicep, she gave him a long gaze before saying, "Maybe I'll come by in the morning. Before I take off? And I can massage that other thigh?"

"Please. It's tight as fuck." Leaning down, he pressed a gentle kiss to her lips before whispering, "And maybe I can get a good rubbin' on you too, huh?"

That got him a shove back before, finally, Steph left the room. He stood at the door, watching her leave for a moment, before closing it and going to fall back into his bed.

Letting out a massive groan against his pillow, Paul had to remind himself of how lucky he was just to have that short amount of time with her. He couldn't get too greedy. Now that Vince knew about them, he probably was going to be even more watchful of her. Which was aggravating and Paul didn't understand (okay, he understood a little, but come on, Steph wasn't twelve), but still just something he was going to have to put up with if he wanted to be with her.

And he did. He most certainly did. So he would.

There was just no two ways about it.


End file.
